He turned and looked at her a trifle sourly, his eyes doing what they had been doing all evening, sweeping over her with unreadable intensity.
'You may come back into the library,' he said grudgingly. 'Is it not something that will keep?'
'I don't think so,' she said doggedly. 'I could not say it before, but I want to say it now!'
'Well, you have certainly been busy before,' he agreed, motioning her into the room ahead of him. 'I imagine that the hairdo was Madeleine's idea?' he suddenly snapped.
'Yes, but I was in full agreement with it,' she assured him, determined not to quarrel with him and wondering why he was so very touchy now. 'I couldn't very well wear clothes like this with long hair.'
'No,' he agreed with a steady look at her. 'However, your new appearance presents its own difficulties. Now that you have discarded your disguise you will need to be well protected.'
'I—I don't understand.' Beth looked at him, puzzled and worried, her puzzlement changing to acute embarrassment when he said scathingly, 'Come, you were surely not unaware of Alain's interest? I have more to do with my time than to fight off interested and panting males who are allured by you!'
'How—how can you speak like that?' Beth gasped, her face glowing pink.
'Very easily,' he jeered, 'the truth has a habit of hitting one in the eye!'
'Alain was merely being polite,' she muttered, wishing she had gone straight to bed.
'Alain is a man, and a Frenchman at that!' he rasped. 'Perhaps it would have been better if you had simply stuck to formality as you usually do with me instead of playing the hostess so very well!'
'I am well aware that Alain is a man, monsieur!' she snapped, slipping back into her old habits of self-defence. 'But then, so are you!'
'I am your guardian!' he pointed out with stinging reproof. 'We are talking about strangers!'
'You are also little more than a stranger, monsieur,' she assured him with a growing misery at this uncalled-for anger when she had been so comfortable with him earlier. 'You did not even tell me about your profession. Had it not been for Madeleine, I would have felt very foolish tonight when Alain so clearly expected me to know everything about you.'
'It seems to me,' he said with dangerous quiet, 'that you have not been interested at all in anything about me. Your sole interest thus far has been to defy me and to escape from me. I had no desire to bore you with my life history.'
'I will go to bed, monsieur!' she snapped. 'Goodnight!'
He reached out and grasped her shoulders, spinning her towards him, pulling her close before she could even struggle. She was trapped against his chest, her arms pinned to her sides, her startled and frightened eyes looking up into his dark, cold face before any real fear could develop and her growing terror seemed to amuse him greatly.
'You are frightened out of your wits, mademoiselle,' he said in a grating but satisfied voice. 'This is what I have been trying to put to you, but it is clear that words make little impression on you. Now that you have changed into such a delightful and interesting creature, you cannot expect to go unnoticed. You are beautiful. Even the addition of your high heels makes you more available.'
'A-Available for what?' she stammered in a tiny, scared voice.
'Available for kissing, ma petite,' he murmured softly, his dark eyes roaming over her flushed and anxious face. 'You have soft, trembling lips, a soft and desirable body. Alain is not the only one with eyes in his head; there will be others!'
'You—you're frightening me, monsieur!' Beth gasped, as frightened by the strange excitement that was gripping her as by anything else.
'I am trying to, mademoiselle,' he assured her. 'If I am succeeding then it will all have been worth while.'
'You are succeeding,' she said fervently, her face chalk-white. 'I believe you!'
'Not fully, I think,' he murmured. 'The lesson has not yet finished.'
CHAPTER FOUR
His eyes were on her tender and parted mouth as he lowered his head, and she was powerless in his strong arms as he pulled her closer and covered her lips with his own. For a second she stiffened in terror. This was new, utterly unexpected and completely unforgivable. She tried to pull free, but his grip tightened painfully and she suddenly stopped fighting, feeling very close to fainting but tremblingly aware of feelings she had never experienced before.
Heat flooded through her, and as he felt her lack of resistance his grip on her eased and his lips began to move over hers, slowly and sensuously as his hand slid to the bottom of her back, urging her closer.
Everything inside her began to flame, and his other hand came to cradle her head, easing the strain on her neck as if he knew exactly where she hurt. The kiss deepened for a while as if he had completely forgotten the reason for it, and Beth was a trembling and unresisting pliant being in the strength of his arms, her eyes still closed, her face bewitched when he lifted his head and put her away from him a little.
'Why?' she whispered at last, her eyes great pools of silver.
'Why not?' he enquired harshly, his face still and shuttered. 'Surely it is better to have lessons from someone with whom you are completely safe than to find out the hard way from a dangerous stranger?'
'Alain only wished to take me out, monsieur,' she whispered with trembling lips.
'In the first instance, perhaps,' he agreed mockingly. 'Today you have rejoined the living. Learn that they do not all live like you.'
'And what about you, monsieur?' she asked tremulously. 'Is that how you live?'
'Not with you, ma fille,' he said tightly, releasing her. 'I am your guardian! However, if you continue to call me monsieur I may well become violent!'
'You are violent!' Beth snapped, her humiliation suddenly making itself felt as the enchantment drained away. 'And not at all to be trusted!'
He threw his dark head back and laughed, the odd tension leaving him as he indicated that she should sit down.
'You have little choice but to trust me, Beth,' he pointed out drily. 'You will find that I can be very comfortable to live with. I merely wish to have you realise the danger of youth and beauty.'
'I have a boyfriend in England, monsieur,' she said, untruthfully; Carl could not be called that by any stretch of the imagination. 'I—I'm quite experienced with men.'
'I do not think so.' His eyes ran over her still trembling form. 'I am not, after all, really so devastating, and yet you are in quite a state of nerves after one second of a warning lesson.'
'I shall not need another lesson,' Beth pointed out primly, abandoning her efforts to convince him of her worldliness. 'I learn very quickly and I shall be happy to go out only with you.'
'With me!' He looked down at her with a wry grin. 'You imagine that I will want you hanging around my neck?'
'I don't suppose so,' she said stubbornly, 'but I shall anyhow! You brought me here, you insist that this is my home and you are most certainly my guardian!'
'So you are suggesting that we are stuck with each other?'
'Yes!' Beth glared at him, having worked herself up to it she intended to have everything out once and for all. 'Now, I would like to speak to you!'
'Of course!' He sat opposite and regarded her with interest. 'I had quite forgotten—in the excitement!'
'I do not intend to go to university!' she said firmly, her eyes a clear grey on his face, refusing to be intimidated.
'But you said that you were quite excited about it when Alain was here,' he reminded her with raised brows.
'Alain is a stranger and I had no intention of causing an embarrassing scene in front of a stranger!' she said, her head coming up as she continued to face him squarely.
'I see!' He looked at her determined face. 'Let us forget him for a moment and concentrate on you. You are clever, they tell me that you are on the edge of brilliance. The obvious thing for you is to go to university and I can see no common sense in your refusal. You are totally untrained. Do you simply intend to live on your wealth when you are old enough? Have y
ou mapped out a life of the idle rich for yourself?' He sounded really scornful and she sprang to her feet.
'Don't you see? Can't you even try to understand? I have been in a school for the better part of my life! I have never lived! I want to be free!'
He stood too and came over to her, taking her shoulders in his strong hands.
'What will you do, then, with this freedom?'
'I'll get a job!' she said excitedly, relieved that he was not shouting and angry. 'This time, I'll get a really interesting job that I can enjoy. Even if I have to get one after another I will finally get one that is me!'
For a moment he smiled down at her, shaking his head in rueful acceptance as he moved away.
'Very well,' he said softly, 'but not without my approval!' he added, turning back and staring at her firmly.
Beth was delighted and it showed on her face.
'I'll begin at once, tomorrow!'
'No! I will not be here. I do not want you wandering round Paris in any haphazard manner. We will deal with your future properly and methodically.'
In his determination, he gripped her shoulders again, his hands immediately softening as he felt her anxious reaction. 'I shall be away for perhaps two weeks. I am going to Rome and Milan, after that, I shall probably go to Madrid. We are opening a new salon there in the spring and there is quite a lot to arrange.'
'Oh!' Beth's eyes opened wide at this globetrotting, mentioned so casually, and he looked down at her with softened eyes.
'You would like to come with me, Beth?' he asked quietly. 'I will take you if you want to come.'
For a second, she felt a great wave of excitement, and indecision rose in her expressive eyes but it was quelled as soon as it rose. She would not fly. She would never be able to face that, and the golden hope that Gaetan held out for her had to be refused. For a moment there, she had seen herself in Rome, Milan, Madrid with Gaetan, her friendship with him growing, her nerves relaxing in the warmth and security he made her feel so often, but she managed a brilliant smile of refusal as she delicately disengaged herself from his restraining hands.
She almost longed to be back within the circle of magic that had threatened to grow as he had held her and kissed her, but they were new and alarming feelings and she moved to the door.
'Oh, no, thank you,' she said swiftly. 'I—I don't want to go.'
'Two weeks is not a long time,' he coaxed, 'and I do not really want to leave you alone quite so soon.'
'I've been alone for a long time,' she reminded him quickly, afraid that he would press the point and find out why she did not want to go. 'I'm more than capable of looking after myself. In any case, I'm here in your house. I can hardly starve!' It all came out a little sharply and his expression changed to coolness.
'That is true! I will try not to worry about you, then. Goodnight, Beth. I will see you in approximately two weeks' time.'
He turned away and she bit her lip in vexation. Their sudden and new-found friendship seemed to have drained away so quickly, leaving her quite depressed. She went to bed without another word.
In the morning Gaetan was gone, and after a quick breakfast Beth wandered around exploring the house and grounds. Everything was beautiful, peaceful, with all the signs of wealth that there were in fact about Gaetan himself. It was a little cold, though, for lingering in the garden, and after lunch she made her way to the library, intent upon finding the books that Gaetan had said she might borrow.
It was definitely a room that was his alone. She had not noticed it so much when Alain was there the night before, but now, without distractions, it spoke to her of Gaetan, the very air sang of him, and to her consternation she found that she was missing him badly. It helped little to remind herself that they often fought bitterly; somehow, in this short space of time, he had succeeded in wiping out the months in England when she had been struggling and alone. She was safe!
She curled up in one of the chairs and read, quite startled to find the time passing quickly and bewildered when Madame Benoir showed in a grinning Alain.
'While the cat is away…' he murmured, as Madame Benoir left to bring coffee. 'I could not resist the challenge that you threw out last night, Beth. I thought it a good idea to pounce upon you before you could give any orders to Madame Benoir.'
'But Gaetan is away!' she said quickly, feeling inexpressibly guilty and showing it.
'I know,' he laughed. 'If he had not been, I would not have come. I can at least take coffee with you, surely, without your calling to have me thrown out. Louis is so very rough, and quite strong for his age.'
As before, he had her laughing at once, and of course he stayed, but she would not be coaxed into going out; that would be really throwing down the gauntlet to Gaetan, and she was mindful also of what he had said about Alain, 'He is a man and a Frenchman at that!' She refused all offers of a night out.
His coming, though, left her a little restless and she began to ask herself why it was not possible to go out the next day and look for a job. By bedtime, she had convinced herself that it was a good idea. She had not actually made any promise to Gaetan about staying in, and he could hardly expect her to remain in the house for two whole weeks. In the morning, she called a taxi and went into the city to search.
She found, however, that there was about as much work for an unskilled person in Paris as there was in London, and her English accent went very much against her. It did not help either that she was wearing Vernais clothes, nobody seemed to take her seriously. The general idea seemed to be that she was a very rich young lady at a loose end. Nobody wanted that kind of employee. Even so, she went out every day, looking and enquiring until she was exhausted, too tired at night really to do justice to the dinners that Madame Benoir placed before her. And after only six days, Gaetan returned, unexpectedly and rather violently.
She was in the library. Dressed in new white jeans and a dark blue blouse and with her brightly coloured sandals kicked off and lying beside her, she was sprawled out on the settee reading, having given herself a day off from job-finding, when he stormed into the room.
'Gaetan! You're back!' The unexpectedly violent arrival of her guardian went unnoticed for a second as a great wave of gladness flooded through her. Suddenly the world was alive again, and her frustrations of the past few days fled as if they had never been.
'Oui! I am back, mademoiselle, and wanting a few explanations!'
It sank in then that he was furious, and she struggled to her knees on the settee, her great grey eyes astonished at his annoyance.
'I—I don't understand, Gaetan,' she stammered worriedly.
'Oh, how innocently said!' he rasped. 'Neither do I understand, mademoiselle. I do not understand why you have been entertaining Alain and going off daily to meet him when I expressly warned you of the folly of such actions!'
'But I…' She was going to tell him that it was not true, but his anger scared her. She had also been looking for work when he had expressly forbidden that too.
'You have lost weight while I have been away, and not surprising either!' he ground out. 'Apparently you have been having such a good time that you have been unable to eat your dinner at night and have fallen exhausted into bed!'
'Oh, Madame Benoir has really been busy telling you about me, hasn't she?' said Beth with trembling lips. She felt quite disappointed with Madame Benoir, and her face was downcast.
'She was ordered to care for you and you have made it impossible as you have rarely been in the house! From a very bad attack of a virus, straight to living the life of a…!' He seemed suddenly to realise just what he was implying and his eyes stared intently at Beth's red cheeks and quivering lips.
She made no attempt to speak and he turned savagely away, his hands in his pockets as he paced about. 'You had better tell me what happened when you were out with Alain,' he said suddenly in a weary voice, adding tersely, 'He will have some explanations to give too. He is supposed to be working, not trying to lead you astray!'
&nb
sp; 'I have not been out with Alain, monsieur,' she said quietly, too afraid to address him by his first name now.
'He came here!' he rasped, spinning round to face her. 'I do not imagine that he came to see me, knowing as he did that I was in Italy!'
'He came to see me,' she assured him softly, 'but I refused to go out with him.'
'Why?' he asked with dark narrowed eyes. 'I know that he can be very persuasive with the ladies.'
'You warned me, monsieur, and I did not forget it,' Beth said, blushing even more deeply when she recalled exactly how she had been warned.
'So where exactly have you been then, mademoiselle?' he asked with an intrigued and suspicious look at her, coming to the settee where she still knelt and taking her two wrists in his hand.
'I—I went to look for work, for a job,' she said very quickly, before her courage finally gave out.
'You have been roaming the streets of Paris, alone?' he murmured with a deep and menacing quiet. 'You have openly disregarded my express wishes that you did not fail to understand, and you have been wandering about looking for work like a poor and uncared-for little waif?'
When she did not answer his grip tightened even further and he went on relentlessly.
'So what work did you find then, mademoiselle? Are you now a waitress in a cocktail bar, a clerk on the railways, a fish porter?' He was horribly sarcastic, and her eyes filled with tears of anger as she glared at him.
'I'm nothing! I'm still what I was before, utterly at your mercy!' He didn't look too pitying.
'Ah, they would not give you a job, mademoiselle? They said that you did not have sufficient experience to be a fish porter or a railway clerk?'
She snatched her hands away from him and struggled to her feet, facing him furiously, tears rolling down her cheeks.
'I was too well dressed!' she stormed angrily. 'They looked at those damned expensive clothes and thought I was simply amusing myself!'
For a second he looked startled and then he sat down; he actually had to sit down to laugh, he was laughing so much!
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